To read the texts click on the texts: Jon3:1-10; Lk 11:29-32
Jesus’ debate with the crowd
following the exorcism of the demon that made a man mute (11:14-16) continues.
One of the challenges posed by some in the crowd was to demand from Jesus a
sign from heaven. The response of Jesus is not to give in to their demand for a
sign. A similar saying is also found in Matthew (12:38-42) which indicates that
both Matthew and Luke have taken it from the “Q” source {Mark also has the
episode of the demand for a sign and Jesus’ response (Mk 8:11-12), but it is
much shorter and does not have the details found in both Matthew and Luke}.
However, Luke has so formulated the response of Jesus, that it forms an
inclusion. It begins and ends with Jonah. Through this, Luke has associated
Jonah’s preaching with Solomon’s wisdom. Since Luke makes this association, for
him the sign of Jonah was not Jonah’s being in the belly of the whale for three
days and three nights (Mt 12:40), but the call to repentance that Jonah
preached. As the people of Nineveh repented after the call by Jonah, so Jesus
calls the crowd to repentance after his proclamation. The Queen of Sheba, or
the Queen of the South, journeyed from her kingdom in southwest Arabia to test
the reports she had heard of Solomon’s wisdom (1 Kgs 10:1-13; 2 Chr 9:1-12).
When she had tested Solomon with “hard questions” (1 Kgs 10:1), she was
convinced of the wisdom God had given to him and blessed the Lord who had set
Solomon on the throne of Israel (1 Kgs 10:9). At the judgment, therefore, she
also would rise to condemn that wicked generation because they had one who was
greater than Solomon, and they did not hear him.
Jesus thus refuses to give
the crowds any other sign, because any demand for a sign meant that they have
not understood what Jesus was about, and what his mission was. Jesus also knew
that for those who believe, no sign is necessary, whereas for those who do not,
no sign is sufficient.
The call to repentance is a
call to look at everything in a new light. The old is past, the new has come
with the coming of Jesus. If one persists in the old way of looking which is a
way of finding God only in miraculous and spectacular events, one will miss
him. Now he can be found in all things and all things can be found in him.
No comments:
Post a Comment
You may use the "Anonymous" option to leave a comment if you do not possess a Google Account. But please leave your name and URL as www.errolsj.com